{"id":51023,"date":"2025-06-20T11:25:54","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T05:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=51023"},"modified":"2025-06-20T11:26:22","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T05:56:22","slug":"indias-import-burden-rising-costs-of-pulses-and-edible-oils","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/indias-import-burden-rising-costs-of-pulses-and-edible-oils\/","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s Import Burden: Rising Costs of Pulses and Edible Oils"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Pulse and Oil Imports Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pulses and oilseed farmers across India face a persistent crisis due to the <\/span><b>lack of systematic government procurement at Minimum Support Prices (MSP)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unlike rice and wheat, which benefit from robust public procurement, crops like moong, chana, masoor, and soyabean are often sold in open markets at rates well below their MSPs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This disparity leaves farmers vulnerable to market fluctuations, forcing them to sell at loss-making prices, despite using high-yielding, recommended crop varieties.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In regions with <\/span><b>black cotton soil<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, where pulses and oilseeds are naturally suited, farmers have limited cropping option<\/span><b>s<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, making them heavily dependent on these undervalued crops.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite poor returns, many continue planting these crops due to the <\/span><b>absence of viable alternatives<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, reflecting a systemic policy gap in supporting India\u2019s pulse and oilseed producers.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Record Pulses Imports: A Setback for Domestic Growers<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>All-Time High Imports in 2024-25<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India imported <\/span><b>7.3 million tonnes (mt)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of pulses worth <\/span><b>$5.5 billion<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in 2024\u201325, surpassing the previous record of 6.6 mt ($4.2 billion) in 2016\u201317.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This marks a significant jump from the average 2.6 mt ($1.7 billion) imported annually between 2017\u201318 and 2022\u201323.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Past Gains in Self-Sufficiency Reversed<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India had achieved relative self-sufficiency in pulses with output rising to 27.3 mt in 2021\u201322 and 26.1 mt in 2022\u201323, thanks to high-yield, short-duration varieties of chana and moong.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These gains were undone by an <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">El Ni\u00f1o-induced drought in 2023\u201324<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which reduced production to 24.2 mt, recovering only slightly to 25.2 mt in 2024\u201325.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Duty Cuts Trigger Import Surge<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With <\/span><b>retail inflation in pulses hitting double digits<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by mid-2023, the government slashed import duties, prompting a surge in imports.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Inflation Falls, Farmers Hit<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The import surge cooled CPI inflation in pulses, which dropped from 3.8% in Dec 2024 to -8.2% by May 2025.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, this led to market prices falling below MSPs.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>India\u2019s Vegetable Oil Crisis: Rising Imports and Farmer Distress<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Soaring Import Dependence<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over the past 11 years, India\u2019s vegetable oil imports have doubled\u2014from 7.9 million tonnes (mt) in 2013\u201314 to 16.4 mt in 2024\u201325.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In value terms, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">imports rose from $7.2 billion to $20.8 billion, driven partly by the Russia-Ukraine war&#8217;s supply disruptions<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Heavy Reliance on Imported Oils<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2024\u201325, India imported:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">7.9 mt of palm oil (Indonesia, Malaysia)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4.8 mt of soyabean oi<\/span><b>l<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Argentina, Brazil)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3.5 mt of sunflower oi<\/span><b>l<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Russia, Ukraine, Argentina)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, domestic oil production (including cottonseed, rice bran, maize) remains stagnant at ~10 mt, resulting in an import dependency of over 60%.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Inflation and Duty Cuts<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With vegetable oil inflation at 17.9% in May 2025, the government slashed basic customs duty on crude palm, soyabean, and sunflower oil from 20% to 10%, reducing the total import tariff from 27.5% to 16.5%.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Global Projections and Market Flooding<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The USDA expects global vegetable oil production to hit 235 mt in 2025\u201326, led by palm (80.7 mt) and soyabean (70.8 mt).\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lower Indian tariffs may lead to even higher imports, including from the U.S., per a USDA report.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Impact on Indian Farmers<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Soyabean Processors Association of India has warned that the duty cut will flood Indian markets with cheaper oils, hurting local prices.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This may discourage farmers from sowing oilseeds, especially soyabean, in the upcoming kharif season, affecting domestic production further.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b style=\"font-size: inherit;\">Source:<\/b> <a style=\"font-size: inherit;\" href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-the-cost-of-rising-imports-10066696\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>India\u2019s pulse and edible oil imports hit record levels in 2024\u201325, driving domestic prices below MSP and raising serious concerns for farmer income and self-reliance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":51026,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[60,931,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-51023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-mains-articles","9":"tag-pulse-and-oil-imports","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}